


Chip On Your Shoulder

by Mercy_Rhyne



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, I feel like this is very cheesy but that's cute right, I tried my best, M/M, There's a slight hint of romantic Logince but not too much, There's an attempt at ADHD!Roman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne
Summary: Roman struggles to keep up in college, and his roommate offers to help[The title is taken from Legally Blonde for no reason other than that this scene reminded me of that tbh, it's not fully accurate but I like it too much]
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: Sanders Sides Secret Santa 2019





	Chip On Your Shoulder

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about American colleges so I’m just hoping I did at least kind of a good job haha. Same goes for if I did a good job at writing adhd cause I’ve never done that before so eeh let’s hope I did okay lmao, at least I tried (:

For some reason, Roman had always thought that going to college would be the time of his life. That he’d have so much fun learning something he was actually interested in, something he  _ chose  _ to study. He had been so excited to actually start doing something. 

However, that was a while back. And now that he was actually in college, doing something he loved… he found out that it wasn’t all that easy after all. There was so much work he had to do, so much to read and prepare… how people could even keep up with all of that, he had no idea. 

Halfway through the first term, Roman decided to give up on reading in advance of his classes and just pay good attention. That would leave him with slightly more time to make the homework he needed for classes. He’d get around to reading when exams came up, he told himself. 

Which was a lie, he knew that. When exams came up, he’d be too busy studying and stressing over the upcoming exams; there’d be no time for reading with all of that going on. Especially not with his inability to focus on any article for any longer than a few minutes. His mind was way too busy, it kept spinning and spinning, and wandering all around the place. Except for the one thing he actually needed to focus on. It had been the same thing for years, yet Roman seemed to tell himself that he’d get over this, that he could concentrate on this one task. And then he acted as if it was a surprise when he failed. But it really wasn’t. Or at the very least, it shouldn’t have been. 

He also found he struggled with keeping up with deadlines - mostly because he couldn’t bring himself to focus on writing essays when he could be focussing on something that was infinitely more interesting. Like the dozens of story ideas he got pretty much every week. His brain was really quite creative, so it got an idea at the slightest input. And once he had an idea, he couldn’t stop thinking about it for at least a day or two.

Exams turned out to be… a quite stressful period for him. And even though Roman tried his best, even though he studied as much as he could bring himself to do, results weren’t what he had expected them to be - or what he  _ wanted  _ them to be. Sure, they weren’t all horrible, but they weren’t what he had hoped for. Which, obviously caused for more stress. Because if he couldn’t even keep up this early on… how could he manage in the years after this? He’d struggled enough up until this moment, but he couldn’t keep this up for ever. 

The cycle of stressing, stressing so much that he could not focus on studying, getting subpar results, and the stress following those results continued for the remaining half of the semester, and eventually Roman’s roommate, Logan, took notice. And if  _ Logan  _ noticed… yeah, that had to mean it was noticeable. Because he wasn’t exactly the most observant when it came to other people. Either that, or he noticed everything but he didn’t care enough to comment on it. Roman was never sure. He couldn’t believe that someone as smart as Logan couldn’t notice anything in the behaviour of his peers. 

So, one day, Logan came up to his roommate. The two of them hadn’t talked  _ that  _ much over the past half year, but they chatted occasionally, and they got along quite okay. But they never discussed… more serious things. And seeing as he didn’t know exactly what was going on, other than that Roman was stressing himself out over his grades, and it was not doing him any good, he wasn’t quite sure how to approach this. He wanted to help Roman, he really did, but he wasn’t sure how, or if the other would even want him to help. 

Eventually, he just decided to walk up to Roman, make some conversation and, eventually, bring up what he had noticed, and give him a chance to respond and explain, if he felt like he had to, of course. 

“Roman,” he said, approaching the other - who was sat on his bed, watching some video on his phone, “I wanted to ask how you were doing. Since exams are over, and...”

“Oh, I’m good,” Roman answered quickly with a smile - obviously a lie. Logan knew how Roman would always answer that he was okay, even if he wasn’t. He didn’t want people to worry or fuss about him. But there was a clear difference during his response when he was actually okay compared to when he wasn’t. It didn’t take Logan long to figure out which was which. “Just a bit stressed, but that’s all. How are you?”

“I’m alright, thank you,” Logan nodded. “Would you mind if I sat down?” 

“Of course not!” the other was quick to say, taking out both of his earbuds. “Is something up?”

“Well, I was just… thinking,” Logan said slowly, making sure to pick the right way to put his statements, “because I noticed you were- well, quite stressed during exams. I just wanted to know if you were coping alright. I can always help you, if you need me to.”

It wasn’t a secret that studying came easy to Logan - something which Roman envied. He was  _ so smart  _ and got grades that were so much better than Roman’s, while he had to put way less effort into his studying. He didn’t even have to stress about the possibility of failing a test. It also appeared that Roman  _ cared  _ more about failing a test than Logan did. It might be the fact that Logan knew that he could pass pretty much any test or exam. Meanwhile Roman was already stressing about the fact that he didn’t understand one chapter he needed to study, and he could already picture himself failing and he  _ hated  _ the feeling that just that image gave him. It made him so anxious and just feel bad, and he could only focus on that thought, and every time, it proved to be a challenge to avert his thoughts from that image. Every single time. 

“Thanks,” Roman said with a smile at Logan. “I’ll remember that.”

Logan raised an eyebrow, knowing fully well that, even if Roman  _ wanted  _ to ask for help, which he didn’t often do, the chance that he’d forget that was… big. “Will you?” he asked, giving the other a meaningful look. 

“Of course,” he said, knowing himself that he wouldn’t ask for help when the time came. Even if he  _ wanted  _ to - cause he did - he’d be too anxious to actually… do something. However dumb that might sound. Logan offered his help, after all. Of course he wouldn’t refuse it, or think any less of Roman than he did now, right? That would be dumb. 

Logan nodded and hummed, but it didn’t sound like he believed it. Which he didn’t. It was just something about Roman’s attitude and body language that made him doubt the statement. He might very well be wrong, but… he didn’t think he was. 

“There’s no shame in asking for help, Roman,” Logan stressed, looking at Roman seriously. “Studying really isn’t that hard, you just need to find what works for you.”

Roman scoffed, pulling his legs closer to his chest. “Easy for you to say, I haven’t seen you break a sweat at all.”

“I mean it, though. If you find a method that works for you, it’ll be much easier. Clearly, what you’re doing now, isn’t working. I can try my best to help you.”

In all honesty, Roman couldn’t say that that offer didn’t sound at least slightly tempting. It would be nice to have someone to help him, and spending time with Logan sounded nice as well. He seemed sweet enough - not to mention that he was… pretty damn cute - and Roman would like to get to know him better. Especially when he offered it like this. Roman couldn’t put his finger on the  _ why _ , but when Logan put it like this, it was so much easier to accept it. Mostly because it was an actual offer, and not something he had to remind Logan of himself. It was handed to him right now, which somehow made it thousand times easier. 

“Sounds good,” he nodded finally. “I think that would be nice.”

“Good,” Logan said, “maybe we could discuss some methods, later this week? We’ve got the rest of the week off anyways, so…”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan,” Roman smiled, “I’ve got nothing better to do anyways.”

Two days later, the two decided to ‘discuss some methods’, as Logan put it. It was a lot of talking and chatting in general, rather than… discussing the methods. Logan did give Roman some ideas that might help - spreading out the work over a longer period of time, studying in short periods with regular breaks, going over his notes occasionally, et cetera. 

“And if you need help… I’m more than willing to help you,” Logan repeated, looking at Roman to make sure he understood it. “Seriously, Roman, you can always ask me to help, okay?”

“Easier said than done,” Roman muttered under his breath, hoping to be able to hide it from Logan, but… well, as they were sat right next to each other, that failed. 

“I understand that it can be scary to ask for help, but for some it might be easier to learn when you’re with someone you can discuss the subject with, or to have something explained to you.”

Which was right. Logan really had a point, and both of them knew that. Roman couldn’t deny that it might be easier to study if he had someone he could ask questions or ask for help with something he didn’t quite understand. That might help him get a better understanding of the subject as well, and it was definitely an easier way to study than reading everything to himself and trying to remember as much as possible. Because let me tell you… that didn’t work great for him. Yet it was all he ever knew, so he just kept doing it. 

“I know,” Roman finally nodded. “I guess it… wouldn’t hurt to try it out, right?”

Logan nodded. That was probably as much as he would get from Roman. At this point, at least. He was quite a stubborn fellow. 

Some time passed, and Logan did whatever he could to help Roman find a way of learning that would actually work for him, and Roman even followed his tips. While he still didn’t manage to read the material ahead of class, he did go over his notes after lectures, and read a paragraph here and there. It was more than nothing. 

By the end of the year, Roman’s grades were… better. Not perfect - of course they weren’t, that was nearly impossible - but they were  _ better _ . Decent enough, anyways. And already better than he was starting to expect from himself, even if he was anything but happy with the results. 

“Hey, Lo,” Roman called out as he entered their room at the last day of the year, before they’d go home for the holiday. “I was thinking… we should go out tonight.” Logan looked up from the book in his hands, and opened his mouth to respond. But before he could, Roman already realised the implications his words might have and he quickly added: “I mean… not as in a date-kinda way, but rather… we should celebrate, you know? It’s the end of the year, so just to- to celebrate that we survived until now, and as a thank you for helping me, I guess it would be nice?”

Not that he wouldn’t like to go out with Logan in a date-kinda way - because in all honesty, he’d really,  _ really  _ love that - but he didn’t want Logan to think that. They got closer over the past few months, and Roman didn’t want to scare him off, or ruin this friendship they had going on. 

“Oh, right,” Logan said slowly, seemingly caught off guard, but before Roman could even start to overthink the reason why, he continued. “That sounds good, I’d like that.” He gave the other a small smile that made his heart beat a million times a second. He was so cute, and all pretty-looking like that. Roman really couldn’t handle this. He was too damn gay to function. “Do you have any plans?”

“Oh-” In all honesty, he didn’t. It was an idea that had come up in his head this morning, when he was out taking a walk and he instantly grabbed onto it and ran with it, without giving it a second thought. It was more of an excuse to spend some more time with Logan before the holidays than anything. “- not yet. Do you have any suggestions? As long as it’s not too expensive, I’m not the richest guy ever, you know?”

At the comment, Logan’s smile grew ever so slightly. And just that brief moment made Roman’s gay heart beat so rapidly that it almost hurt but damn it if it wasn’t worth it. 

“There’s this one Italian place in town that’s been getting good reviews,” he the brought up. “Rose’s Casa? Maybe we could try that one?”

“Of course!” Roman said quickly, as he made a mental note of the name. “That sounds lovely! How are you feeling?” 

Roman sat down on his bed, crossing his legs in front of him. He moved a bit, trying to find the most comfortable position and ended up deciding to sit with his back against the wall, looking at Logan, who was sat at his desk.

“Quite alright,” the other responded, “I’ve had time to read more with exams over, so I’ve been doing that all morning.”

“You’re free and still spend your entire day reading?” Roman asked with a teasing grin. “My God, you really are a nerd. What have you been reading, anyways?”

He eyed the book Logan had placed on the desk, trying to figure out the title from the cover, but the light reflected at such an angle that he could not quite make it out. The book seemed pretty long, too - unless it was a book with big letters and pictures on every other page, but knowing Logan… that really didn’t seem likely. He always did like those big, difficult, weird books. 

“Ulysses, by James Joyce,” the other answered, glancing at the book as he did so. “Do you know it?”

Roman hummed. “Vaguely. Mostly by name, though.”

Logan nodded, not surprised by the answer. He didn’t take Roman to be the kind of guy to really be into books like this one. No offense to him, though. It just… didn’t appear to be his kind of book. 

He shifted and explained the basics of the plot, without getting into too much detail. It definitely wasn’t an easy book to read, but it was one he had wanted to read for a long time, and he finally had the time to do so. So obviously, he had to do it. 

“Of course you’d read something like that right after exams,” Roman huffed with a smile as he moved so he could wrap his arms around his legs and pull them to his chest. “That’s such a you thing.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“It just… is, okay? It’s typically you.” And super adorable, Roman added in his mind. But of course, he wouldn’t say those words out loud. Not right now, anyways. Maybe at some point in the future, he’d gather up the courage to say that to Logan’s face. But not right now. Not yet. Little baby steps, right? 


End file.
